New charge against imprisoned Tunisian feminist

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A lawyer for a Tunisian feminist who is in prison awaiting trial says his client has now been charged with insulting a prison guard.

Amina Sboui shocked Tunisians by posting on Facebook in March topless photos of herself denouncing the treatment of women.

She was arrested in May for scrawling the name of European feminist group Femen on the wall of a cemetery in Kairouan city. She was fined for carrying pepper spray and will be tried for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization, undermining public morals and desecrating a cemetery. If convicted, she could be jailed for eight years.

Lawyer Halim Meddeb said Thursday that Sboui has now been charged with “insulting a civil servant in the exercise of his duty” after an altercation with a prison guard.